Episode 10 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill or seriously injured in a place like this,

there's only one thing that can save you. And that's speed.

It doesn't matter where you are, this helicopter,

with its highly-trained team of pilots and paramedics, will fly to your rescue at 2.5 miles a minute.

These are Yorkshire's Helicopter Heroes.

When the people of Britain's biggest county dial 999,

there's a good chance help will come from the skies.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance is ready to scramble 365 days a year,

and each one brings a new life or death emergency.

Today on Helicopter Heroes, the team face a terrible dilemma.

A trapped farm worker may lose his legs or his life.

He's got his legs stuck in this screw, and it's gone underneath a concrete slab.

A drunk driver is badly injured.

She's got a nasty leg injury and nasty arm injury, so...

she'll be in a lot of pain when we try to move her.

Pilot Steve's in a tight spot as he attempts a dramatic landing.

And a 999 call takes up a lot of time.

The case of a tipsy teenager ties up 40 members of the emergency services.

When you work nine-to-five on a farm, there are all sorts of hazards

that can turn an ordinary working day into a life-changing ordeal.

ON RADIO: '...male who was trying to extract his machinery...'

There's been a 999 call from a farm, and it sounds serious.

Helimed 98 is on the case.

The gentleman is trapped by his legs.

There's no land crew on scene yet.

A crew and emergency practitioner are en route at the moment.

They are screaming for a doctor.

It is lucky that anaesthetist Dr Steve Rowe is flying today as a volunteer.

He used to work on a farm, and he knows his medical skills may be tested.

There tends to be lots of large machinery on farms,

and every year I see a couple of folk

that have unfortunately met the wrong end of the machinery.

With farm accidents, pilot Tim Taylor rarely has to worry about finding somewhere to land.

I've got visual with the vehicles in the middle of the farm building.

We'll land in the grey concrete area.

The accident's happened in a battery hen house.

Their 29-year-old patient's trapped in machinery, and in agony.

He's got both his feet firmly fastened into the auger, a chicken auger.

We are giving him a bit of pain relief at the moment,

and the fire brigade are potentially trying to free him.

Tony was trying to clear a blockage in a powerful auger that removes manure from the hen house,

when he lost his balance and both his feet became trapped in a heavy steel corkscrew.

Anthony.

Am I touching your right foot or your left foot?

Right or left?

-Right side.

-OK, so that's your right foot. Good.

But the damage to Tony's lower legs is so serious, the medics can't tell exactly what they're looking at.

It would need both his legs to be broken and opened in this not very clean environment.

Tony's been breathing Entonox, a pain-killing gas,

but his pain is so intense he needs something stronger.

-Shall we get the Ketamine out?

-Yeah.

Ketamine? It's a pain-relieving drug as well as...

It's more humane for the patient. It can effectively knock him out.

Ketamine is so powerful, only doctors can prescribe it.

Well done. That's the deal.

The fire brigade aren't short of advice on how to free Tony.

Knocking that section of wall out, we can lift it up six inches... well, up to that high.

The auger will have to be lifted,

but they are dealing with tonnes of steel encased in a shaft

that goes through a wall.

-Anthony?

-Yeah.

-Good. Just keep taking nice, steady breaths.

OK, mate. You're doing really well.

Have you got any oxygen on board your vehicle?

Can we have...as many as you've got, please.

Yeah.

Do you want Entonox as well?

Tony's bleeding heavily from his legs, but they're buried

almost up to his knees in foul-smelling chicken manure.

It will have to be removed, but it's not the smell that worries Dr Steve.

It's infection. But swilling the droppings away from the wound is impossible.

Tom, pass us that chimney sheet.

The medics put a tourniquet on Tony's legs to help stop the bleeding.

Steve's putting a tourniquet on, which basically is wrapping something around the leg,

then you tie it up, which stops the blood flowing into the legs.

Obviously Steve thinks that once we get his legs out, he might bleed heavily.

So he's putting something on to stop the blood flow to his lower legs.

Time is running out. Paramedic Pat knows that as the operation to free Tony goes on,

the chances of having to abandon the fight to save his feet increase.

Surgical team.

Sammy can't say the word on her mind...

amputation.

What's your flight time to LDI?

-Five minutes.

-Cos we might want a surgical team.

We're looking at amputating his feet. All right?

Surgical instruments and another doctor are on standby at a nearby hospital

to allow Dr Steve to carry out the first amputation of his career in a chicken hut.

Me and Tim are going to fly to Dewsbury hospital to pick up Andy Poutney and bring him back here.

As Pat and Helimed 99 take off to collect the second doctor, scalpels and a saw,

only a specialist fire brigade rescue team can now save Tony's legs.

Coming up, the fire brigade have a plan, and it could save Tony's legs.

My colleagues in the fire service are just making some room behind me

to actually lift the screw up and see if we can take it off his legs.

There's a tricky rescue operation on the canal bank.

And on a frozen pond, the Helimed team are called to a suspicious hole in the ice.

The body remains upright in the water. There could be two people in there.

When I wore a uniform for a living,

I would despair at the number of people who would still drink and drive.

And sometimes these guys have to come face to face with the effects of motorists who think

they can handle a few drinks as well as their cars.

It's the morning rush hour in South Yorkshire.

On a busy road near Barnsley, three cars have collided.

One driver was trapped and seriously injured.

The crew of Helimed 99 are on their way to the scene,

and paramedic Darren Axe, who was born in the next village, knows it well.

Initial reports are that people are trapped in the car.

We don't know how many at this time.

You don't know what you are going to see until you get there.

The driver of a Ford Mondeo is lying across the front seats of her car.

Her arm and leg are badly broken.

Freeing her would mean taking her car apart.

The crash is a mystery.

The road is straight and visibility's good.

It shouldn't have happened. But one of the ground paramedics seems to have an idea.

The driver is slurring her words.

Allegedly this lady here, in this vehicle, has had a few to drink.

This will feel a bit uncomfortable, all right? Just to support your neck.

If it's comfy, we've done it wrong.

If you look at her hand, it's obviously nasty.

I'm struggling to dress this properly, so I'm just doing it to keep it clean.

It's not very pretty to look at, is it?

Alcohol's doing one good thing for their patient.

It's clearly acting as a painkiller.

If that was me, I'd be screaming my head off.

She's not complaining now, but she might.

She's got a nasty leg and arm injury, so...

she'll be in a lot of pain when we try to move her.

So we're going to get some pain relief ready to give her.

If she starts to scream out, which I'm sure she will, we'll have to stop and give her some pain relief.

Drink driving doesn't just affect those who choose to risk it.

The woman in the Mondeo is one of three casualties.

A man in a people carrier has received less serious injuries,

and another motorist is being taken off for a check-up.

-Northern General have a really good plastics department. They'll put your arm back together.

-Will they?

This woman's just become a statistic.

She's one of around 3,000 road users killed or seriously injured each year

in accidents where alcohol is a factor.

Nearly one in six of all road deaths is caused by booze.

But to the paramedics, all patients are the same.

You said you'd not, but have you had a drink at all?

Don't shake your head. It's really important to tell us.

-No. Not since last night.

-Did you have a lot last night?

Um...I had a bottle and a half of wine.

Despite all the signs to the contrary, the driver thinks she's sober.

And she seems to believe that the one she drank the night before can't be a factor in her accident.

I can't believe... I were just going home. I can't believe this.

Binge drinkers can take up to 24 hours to be fully sober.

Paramedic Simon has seen his fair share of the misery caused by drink driving,

but these guys are professionals.

Just rest your leg down.

That'll take all the pressure off it, won't it?

Blame doesn't enter the equation for the Helimed team.

She may have broken the law, but the severity of the woman's injuries mean she'll be flown to hospital.

The other two patients with less serious injuries will go by road.

Coming up, paramedic Simon lends an ear as his patient comes out with her account of what happened.

I can't believe... I just turned around that corner and that car was there.

The battle to free a trapped farm worker is stepped up.

Start to lift now. You lift, I'll get them a lift.

And a police search team struggle to find a man trapped in an ice-covered pond.

Now, this thing weighs three tonnes and takes years of training to fly.

Imagine if you could drive your car at 150 miles per hour,

and had to take in a dash like this.

But some emergencies even stretch the Helimed pilots to the limit.

Yorkshire is criss-crossed by hundreds of miles of waterway.

The canal banks on the Pennine foothills are a favourite with walkers.

But today, one waterside hike has ended in agony.

Pam Watts has a broken ankle.

Her injury isn't serious, but her predicament is. It's a cold day, dusk is approaching,

and she's more than a mile from the nearest road.

In a situation like this, ground paramedics know just who to call.

Helimed 99 is on the way.

We've got a fractured ankle, which, on the face of it,

shouldn't be life-threatening injury.

It's just the location that is a problem,

to actually move her to the ambulance.

Quite often when we actually put the patients onto the helicopter,

we relocate the helicopter to where the ambulance can get to

and then leave them with the ambulance crew.

For pilot Steve Cobb, this route is familiar.

My house is down there.

Do you support the local brass band?

I support the local pub.

Looking at hospitals, we've got Huddersfield, which is only three miles.

And that's a secondary transfer, so...

Hopefully it might be just a case of moving the patient to the ambulance, maybe.

For paramedic Tony Wilkes, this will be a tricky case.

Pam's lying at the top of a muddy embankment.

Carrying a stretcher back to the chopper could end in an injury much worse than a broken ankle.

Can't see any wires or anything from my side.

Me neither.

To get near to their patient, pilot Steve's only choice is to land the chopper on the towpath.

But he's going to need some help on the ground.

Boggy. Very boggy.

-What do you want me to do?

-Do you want to jump out?

-Tony doesn't mind.

-I think...

The paramedics have been trained to guide the helicopter in.

So Tony's dropped off in a nearby field, while Steve has one more look at his landing pad from the air.

-Do you think you can get up there?

-Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Don't see anything unusual there.

The towpath was built 250 years ago to be wide enough for a man and two horses to walk side by side.

But pilot Steve is about to try it for size with his three-tonne helicopter.

Not a loss of chance here, is there?

Steve has more than 5,000 hours logged

over 20 years in the captain's seat, but this will test even his skills.

Helicopters are generally recognised as among the most complicated aircraft to fly.

-You've just hovered over a bit further...

-He's...

Tony's still calling you down.

Forward.

Down.

Steve's trying to touch down in an area just two feet wider than the landing skids.

One slip, and £3 million worth ends up in the drink.

With Tony's help, Steve's done it.

The ground crew at the scene have done a great job and fully brief Tony.

They'd been walking the two dogs. Her husband's taking the dogs back.

One's pulled her over.

She's got a fractured left ankle and also a fractured wrist.

It's just in there because it was cold. Entonox is needed, and her pain's...quite reasonable now.

The location the lady's in there is quite difficult to get to.

And they'd have had to carry her over a wall and down a quite steep and slippy bank.

This is just about wide enough for us.

We got Tony to come up and just do a recce for us, check it was OK and just guide us in.

It's worked out quite nicely.

-Pam, have you flown in a helicopter before?

-No.

No? Do you fancy doing it now, eh?

So what we're gonna do, we're gonna get a stretcher out, we're gonna sit you up,

get you on, get you buckled up, OK? And then we'll pop you down to Huddersfield.

It doesn't take long before Pam's on the chopper's special stretcher...

She's a very fit lady.

She'd proper boots on and everything, that's what's unfortunate.

..and ready to be loaded into Helimed 99.

Ready, Pam? Ready, steady, lift.

But it's going to be a tight fit.

Landing pads are normally five times this size.

But the crew did the right thing calling the chopper in - it's a long walk to the road.

You all right there?

With Pam safely on board, Steve must run through a longer than usual take-off checklist.

-Let's review the obstacles.

-Yeah.

-One tree.

-One wall.

Another tree.

Power lines, hill...

-Horses behind.

-I think that's just about covered everything?

-Yep.

-All clear.

-Thank you. We're clear of the tree.

Straight up to avoid the back end hitting the wall, and Pam is on her

way to Huddersfield Hospital for some bone setting.

And a few days later, she's back home with a tale to tell about an amazing landing.

Sort of about that much between the path and the wall, and the helicopter landed just about...

well, about 10 foot away from my feet.

I actually thought his blades were gonna touch the wall when he came down, cos it's quite a high wall.

I mean, it was just like landing on a sixpence.

If I'd have seen it coming down, I probably would have had kittens, you know, coming at me that close.

But he kept my face covered till they cut the motor.

Coming up... the police investigation into a drink-drive accident gets under way.

Plus Helimed 99 is scrambled on an expensive wild goose chase.

The medics who fly in this helicopter often have some terrible decisions to make.

Imagine having to choose between losing a limb or your life.

Now, imagine making that decision for someone else.

Dr Steve Rowe has to right now.

On a farm on the outskirts of Bradford, a major rescue operation is under way.

Farm worker Tony Dolan is trapped by his legs after falling

into an industrial auger, a giant corkscrew designed to remove manure from the hen house where he works.

Paramedic Sammy Wills and flying doctor Steve Rowe know

that if he can't be released soon, they'll have to amputate his legs.

We're looking at amputating his feet.

A second doctor's already on his way by air to assist with the operation,

and only a specialist fire brigade rescue unit can save his legs.

This team is trained to deal with explosions and disasters, and they know speed saves lives.

But Dr Steve Rowe's priority is keeping Tony alive.

Fellow flying doctor Andy Pountney has arrived in Helimed 99 to help amputate the patient's legs.

-He's well and truly stuck.

-Right.

He's had about 125 of ketamine so far, reasonably comfortable on that.

If they wait too long, Tony's life could be

in danger through the toxins already building up in his crushed legs.

-We'll see what we need and...

-Just give us a shout what you want, Andy.

Inside the hen house, Tony's condition is being carefully monitored on an ECG.

Any deterioration and they will begin surgery.

But outside, the firefighters have other plans.

They're demolishing part of the wall to create enough space to lift the auger free of Tony's legs.

His legs are well and truly under there.

We've tried getting them out by easing them out, it's not working.

So our colleagues in the fire service

are just making some room behind me to actually lift the screw up

and see if we can take off his legs.

Part of the steel manure removal system will have to be cut to free the huge corkscrew.

Is that the vibrations?

But the vibration is hurting their patient.

There's nothing they can do.

It's unusual for us, but this really is necessary.

Slowly, the auger is being lifted.

We've only got a short travel distance to lift it, and then it's blocked and chopped.

So as you lift it up, we're placing the blocks and wedges underneath so it's not gonna go back down again.

-Do you want some more clearance?

-Everybody got a piece?

Start to lift now. You lift, I'll get them to lift.

Are you ready? Hold it when you get it.

After more than an hour, the rescue team finally ease the auger off Tony's legs...

And slide back and slide back.

Let's go!

And he's free.

Let's go, guys. Yeah, we're clear.

Let's go. Let's go.

Down. Ready?

It's all right, it's all right. Calm down.

So we've got him out, managed to lift the screw off him, and his feet just popped out, which is good.

So we're gonna get him stabilised and take him into LGI now for an assessment.

Keep your hands in, we're going to lift you outside now. You're out!

It's been a very close thing.

A few minutes longer and the doctors would have had to amputate.

But the team know Tony's condition is still very serious.

He's bleeding heavily and this is the very worst environment in which to sustain a traumatic injury.

Can you get someone to run through two bags of saline,

we're gonna rinse this off and get some saline and we'll dress it.

Trying to irrigate these wounds, because they're covered in...

Chicken manure has contaminated his wounds.

If infection sets in, he could still lose his feet.

It's vital they're cleaned up rapidly and he reaches surgery quickly.

Are we ready for the lift?

-Yeah.

-One, tow, three, lift.

-Anthony, are you all right?

-Keep that arm down for us, Anthony.

All right, Anthony? Yeah?

The medicine's going to make you feel a bit strange, but don't worry, you're OK.

OK? You're out, and we'll get you to hospital very shortly.

The next half-hour could decide whether Tony walks again or is permanently disabled.

Coming up...

rescue at last for Tony, but will surgeons be able to save his shattered feet?

We'll make sure his airway, breathing and circulation are absolutely fine,

make sure there's enough fluid flowing round in his veins to get him into theatre as soon as we can.

And a police search team struggle to find a man trapped in an ice-covered pond.

I mean, we do get sometimes where people step out onto the ice,

make a hole and then retrace their steps, cos they think it's funny.

Now, how do you decide who most needs an air ambulance?

It's a simple decision for the Helimed dispatchers.

If you're trapped inside a car, you get a helicopter.

It doesn't matter what caused the accident.

On a rush-hour route near Barnsley, there's been a three-car shunt,

and paramedics believe one driver's boozing might be the cause.

It's taken 20 minutes for firefighters to prepare the car for the patient's removal.

Now they will need to clear the way to Helimed 99, which is waiting to carry the motorist to hospital.

We could do a blood pressure, actually, before we do give her the morphine.

Is there any pain, while we're here?

Any pain in your tummy?

No? ..This leg obviously hurts.

Pilot Tim Taylor managed to land within 100 metres of the accident,

but the route from crash to chopper isn't straightforward.

-Would it be criminal damage if I pushed these over?

-Not if YOU do it!

Don't hurt yourself, mate.

And neither is the delicate task of lifting the driver from her wrecked car.

-Where's that hurting?

-My leg.

-Whereabouts on your leg?

-Is it your ankle?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh!

-That's brilliant, Sharon. All done.

Just rest it down.

-You're all packaged up neatly. We're gonna slide a board underneath you...

-Yeah.

..and just slide you into the helicopter, out the car.

-All right?

-Are we ready, then?

-On your count.

-Straight under, yeah?

-I think we might need some more manpower here.

Back injuries are common amongst paramedics,

and the best way to avoid them is by calling in reinforcements.

On up, then. Ready, steady, up.

There we go.

OK?

It's not surprising police have taken a keen interest in this case.

Normally they'd be breathalysing anyone they suspect of drink-driving,

but the woman's condition means they must wait.

Now we're strapping you to this helicopter stretcher,

gonna pop you in the helicopter and fly you to Sheffield.

-Oh, gosh.

-I know, it's scary, innit? But don't worry, Tim's done it before.

People pay a fortune to fly in helicopters.

I can't believe... I just turned round that corner and that car was there.

Yeah?

Well, yeah, these things happen.

Thanks, lads...and lasses.

Thank you, anyway.

Pop this oxygen on your face, yeah? All right?

Paramedic Simon doesn't drink at all when he's driving, and he doesn't think much of those who do.

I saw far too many accidents like this when I was a copper,

and Simon's lost count of patients he's treated in circumstances like this.

The woman will soon be undergoing surgery on her badly broken arms,

but that's not before she's taken a breath test.

Because of her history, the woman was later sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for 18 months,

given a three-month curfew and ordered to wear an electronic tag.

She was banned from driving for a year and a half

and ordered to take a test before she gets behind the wheels again.

It's not so bad when drunk drivers just injure themselves, it's when

they injure other people that it becomes hard to become...

Remain detached, if you like.

But, you know, it's our professional responsibility to be detached

and to offer the same level of care to everybody,

regardless of how the accident's occurred and what's occurred beforehand.

I think in any, you know, ambulance personnel's book,

they're never, ever going to be popular, these people.

Whether they're good people in everyday life doesn't really matter.

Once they've consumed a quantity of alcohol and then decided to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle,

it's like being let loose with a loaded gun.

Coming up - a trapped farm worker reaches hospital, and there's relief for the team treating him.

-I'll be having a thorough shower when I get home.

-I said, "Hurry up, it's my turn!"

Seeing the world from 2,000 feet doesn't half make it look small.

That's Sheffield down there, home to half a million people.

And on an average day, about 100 of them will need to make a 999 call,

but only a lucky few will get these guys coming to help.

Today's emergency services are a highly-trained and multi-skilled network

of rescue teams using some of the most up-to-date technology.

And the Helimed team is the pride of the fleet.

But resources like these don't come cheap - an RAF chopper, eight grand an hour.

So wasting their time is an expensive business,

and the bad news is, hoax or trivial call-outs cost millions every year.

Apparently you've been stood down on this helicopter crash and diverted to another detail, over.

Today, many of these resources are racing to a frozen lake near Sheffield.

Someone's spotted footsteps on the ice and they think someone's fallen into the freezing cold water.

Tony, does it look as though it's north or south of Sheffield?

It's north-north-west, just to the east of Stocksbridge.

The Helimed team takes every 999 call seriously, but like their colleagues on the ground,

their job is made harder and more dangerous by pranksters who use the emergency services

as a very expensive prop in their practical jokes,

and something doesn't quite ring true about this particular job.

Any more information, over?

Negative...

Police divers are searching under the ice in freezing conditions, but they've found nothing.

It looks as if one set of footprints leads straight to the hole, one set of footprints goes out there,

and then come straight back to where the hole's been broken into the ice.

At the moment, there's no footprints actually leading back.

Fire crews and ground paramedics are also on the way, and the team want Helimed 98 there just in case.

With the divers failing to find anything from under the ice,

paramedic Lee Davison wants to use the chopper to look from above.

Is it worth us having a look over the top to see if we can see anybody underneath?

But even from the air, there's still no sign.

We're just coming to attend to assist, really.

Obviously if someone has been submerged for a length of time,

we'll need to get them to hospital as soon as possible.

But you never know, if somebody's gone into icy water very quickly,

then they can actually be resuscitated for a time afterwards.

The South Yorkshire Police underwater team are

regular officers who are called in for jobs like this.

It's a dangerous and time-consuming business.

The search is also putting a strain on the local emergency services.

Dozens of rescuers are waiting to help, but all they can do is watch.

Police divers started doing the initial search.

Usually in these situations the body remains upright in the water.

It could be two people in there.

The hi-tech intercom system allows the team on dry land to talk to the diver.

He might have found something.

RADIOS CRACKLE

But it's another false alarm.

You've done a full circuit.

He's coming back up to the surface and he'll bring himself out,

out of the pond, and get him back out to the side.

He's been under ice, so we've had to check the bottom and the underside

of the ice to ensure that the person is not stuck underneath the ice.

It could be a historic or it could have been there a couple of days.

After well over an hour of searching, the operation is finally called off.

There's no sign of a body and it appears that rescues team's suspicions have been confirmed.

We do get it sometimes where people step out onto the ice, make a hole

and then retrace their steps because they think it's funny.

But as we can see, there's a lot of people here who...

have not wasted their time, but in certain terms if it's a prank...

they're taking a lot of resources up.

Nearly 6,000 hoax calls were made to Yorkshire's emergency services

last year, costing the taxpayer millions of pounds.

The Helimed team return to base counting the cost of another wasted journey.

You're putting yourself at risk for some idiot

who thinks it's clever to dial 999,

just to see ambulances or even fire engines and police cars

rushing around with blue lights on.

Ambulance emergency. Can I take the telephone number you're calling from?

CALLER INAUDIBLE

It's a different day, but the same old story.

A 999 call says there's been a smash on one of Yorkshire's major motorways.

We've got reports that a lorry overturned on the A1, M1 link road.

It's an area of the motorway that we've come to quite often.

There's quite a sharp bend in the road there.

We believe that there's a driver or occupant of the HGV that's still trapped.

When you've got large vehicles like this that are over on their side,

the forces involved in this are quite significant.

The wreckage tends to come in and crush around the occupants of these vehicles.

The extrications can be quite lengthy.

500 feet below Helimed 99, a co-ordinated response is underway with the police, the fire service

and ground ambulances, putting themselves and other road users at risk, racing towards the scene.

It's normally this just here, in't it?

-On this bend. Where they...

-Yes.

..lose it.

-Can you see owt, Steve?

-Not at the moment, no.

There's no wreckage no sign of queuing traffic.

It's only taken five minutes to get there, but it costs the Helimed team hundreds of pounds every time

they respond to a 999 call, and working in helicopters

is more dangerous than your average desk job.

Hoax call. The police have run back to say that there's nothing there.

And stand down.

Money's been raised generally by members of the public.

Sometimes corporate, but often by members of the public.

We can't replace this easily.

For us, every pound counts.

We could really do without flying when we don't have to.

I'd think any, every time that any emergency ambulance or police or fire respond to a call,

there's always an increased risk, a calculated risk. But you're driving often above the legal speed limit.

You're driving and out of traffic. So you're increasing the risk of an accident happening.

Ambulance emergency. Can I take the number you're calling from?

'No! Bye!'

Emergency. Can I take the telephone number you're calling from, please?

Hello? Hello?

It's dawn in Sheffield.

At Helimed 98's base, the team are preparing to go on an intriguing emergency call.

Clear left, please?

-Clear left.

-Cheers.

I'm not really familiar with the area.

But where we need to be is near a crossroads of the railway lines.

OK. They described it as an open road. Whether they meant disused, I'm not sure.

A teenager has been found on a disused railway line by a couple

of early rising dog-walkers and they can't wake him up.

Paramedics Sammy Wills and Glen Powell are already trying to work out what's happened.

Their young patient could be in a diabetic coma, or fallen and banged his head.

-At the moment, JJ, all we know is that he's a 14 or 15-year-old...

-15-year-old.

On a disused or maybe unopened road.

I don't know if there's any new roads being built. This was a rough...

It could be a disused railway.

It could be. There's a few.

But the crew must also consider another scenario.

This has all the signs of being the aftermath of an alcohol-fuelled night out.

There's a pylon and a bit of grass on the right hand side as we're looking.

Where the pylons are, I'll come down inside of them.

Local emergency services have turned out in force

and the Helimed team head straight to where they're parked.

Disconnecting...

But the teenager is still a mile's walk away and you don't need to do that when you've got a helicopter.

He's not in the road. He must be somewhere else.

-Apparently it's a 15 minute walk down that way.

-All right. So we don't know where he is then?

I'm trying to speak to Dave. I've got nothing back from him.

This is as close as they can get.

But there's still some thick undergrowth and a steep slope between the team and their patient.

-Am I pulling you down now?

-All right.

Are you ready? Woo-hoo! Ooh...

Open your eyes, mate.

-Has he spoken?

-He's still refusing to co-operate with his name.

-Right.

This looks serious and the boy's blood sugar level is low.

But after a quick check-over, Glen recognises the symptoms.

He said he'd been out drinking last night.

-Has he told you he's a diabetic?

-No, he says he's not a diabetic.

-Right.

I could've brought you a blanket, mate. Do want me to go and get you a blanket?

What's your name? Tell us your name.

BOY GROANS

Go on, then we can do this paperwork and leave you be.

The young lad is nursing a pretty serious hangover.

One which has taken a helicopter, four medics

and a couple of policemen off the front line.

He's had some alcohol last night and been out all night.

I know it looks a bit cruel, but we've given him some medication

and it takes about 10 minutes to bring him round.

So we're just letting that take effect,

so he's not angry and aggressive towards us.

There's probably a few people wondering where the boy is, because it appears he's been out all night.

Thankfully it's midsummer and it's relatively mild.

But if it had been a few months earlier,

it could've been a very different story.

Come on. You need to talk to us. We'll have to stay with you until we find out who you are.

Shall I help you stand up, fella?

-How does that feel?

-I'm all right.

Do you want to put your hat on?

Binge drinking costs the country billions of pounds every year.

And the cost of sorting out this teen is rising every minute

the emergency services are on the scene.

But the fact is there could be another patient who needs Helimed 98's life-saving skills nearby.

He's come round and he's eventually decided to do the right thing.

He'll be tucked up in bed in a few hours

after he's been checked out by the hospital.

He's a 15-year-old.

He'll probably get into trouble when he gets home.

He's been missing during the night. So, yes.

He's anxious not to get found out, but unfortunately he's in a predicament

where the police are here, the ambulance service is here and we're gonna take care of him.

With nothing worse than a sore head, the teenager will soon be

just another statistic as he heads to the local A&E for a check-up.

He'll go by road, which will allow this £3,500 a day air ambulance and

its team of flying paramedics to get back to the jobs of saving lives.

Let's catch up with a case of the farm worker

trapped in machinery in the hen house where he worked.

Tony Dolan came within minutes of losing his foot after he was trapped

in an industrial corkscrew at a battery hen house outside Bradford.

Now after a tense two-hour rescue operation,

he's on his way to specialist treatment at Leeds General Infirmary.

Despite his dramatic escape,

minutes before flying doctor Steve Row was forced to amputate,

Tony's still in real danger from the bacteria

in the chicken manure in which he was trapped.

OK then, Tony.

Good lad. How's your pain just now?

It's still hurting.

It's hurting the very badly. OK.

We'll give you some more painkillers in just a second, OK?

He's lost a big toe and both feet have been badly crushed.

Hello. Are you all right? Do you know where you are?

-No.

-No? OK. You're on top of the Leeds General Infirmary hospital.

The lift from the hospital helipad

will take Tony six floors down to resus -

the A&E department where the most seriously-injured patients are assessed.

Hello there. How are you doing?

The crash team is waiting to assess Tony's injuries.

He had a tourniquet applied to his left leg for about an hour whilst we extricated him.

The decisions they make over the next 10 minutes could decide

whether Tony walks again or loses one or even both feet.

We need to make sure his airway breathing and circulation are fine,

he's got enough fluid flowing around his veins,

he's got painkillers and antibiotics.

We'll get him into theatre as soon as we can,

but we need to assess his injuries at the end of his legs.

They must balance repairing his wounds with removing enough

debris to minimise the chance of serious infection from the manure.

The main problem with this

will be contamination and infection.

He clearly was buried quite deeply in all the chicken muck,

so it's prime for infection to take hold.

The guys are giving him antibiotics to ward off against that.

The way in which Tony was injured is critical to the treatment they give him,

and thanks to a helpful illustration found on the internet,

they know what an auger looks like.

Doctor Steve and paramedic Sammy had to come closer than they'd like to

the manure from the more than 1,000 chickens Tony was looking after.

I'll have a thorough shower when I get home.

This is the first chance they've had to begin the big clean up.

I said, "Hurry up, it's my turn!"

It's not just the crew of Helimed 98 that need a shower.

Their equipment is covered in an unwanted reminder of their day down on the farm.

As much as we tried to catch

the bodily fluids leaving this gentleman's legs,

as it was coming out...

We just had to keep him safe, and unfortunately the stretcher got it.

Decontaminating their patient's wounds will not be so easy.

For Tony, the next 24 hours will be crucial.

For the next four weeks, Tony's in and out of theatre

as surgeons battle to save his legs.

It's still touch and go but Tony's trying his best to stay positive.

It can get to you sometimes.

But in your head you've got to know

that you're going to get to that stage of walking again.

I know in my head I want to get up and get out

and walk and stuff like that,

but I know that if I do I'll probably end up doing more damage

to myself than owt else.

It's in my head I've got to do it. I've got to make it.

Tony's legs were so badly damaged his doctors are having to use other parts of his body

to help with the reconstruction process.

About a week ago they did skin grafts,

taking skin off different parts of my body to put on to my legs,

and muscle out of my body, out of the top part of my thigh here,

and out the back of my shoulder.

He wishes he didn't, but Tony clearly remembers what happened.

I tried to pull myself out.

Didn't work.

Had a vision of seeing my legs just disappear

and me just sat there still, and my legs just disappearing

because the machine's just ripped them to bits and pulled them apart.

Yeah, I thought I weren't going to get out. I thought that were it.

I'm not letting it beat me. I'm determined to walk.

At the end of the day I were born with two legs,

and I'm keeping two legs.

When Helicopter Heroes comes back...

A man severs his hand in an accident,

but the Helimed team are determined to save it.

We'll go direct to LGI. Hopefully they can stitch it back on.

There's a race against the setting sun as an injured rider is flown to hospital.

10 to 15 minutes, maximum.

The chopper flies to the rescue of a ground ambulance bogged down on a rugby pitch.

We're going to push the ambulance off the field.

There's a touch down on the motorway after a multiple pile up

brings gridlock to the M6.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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